Étang de Lers et le village englouti

Le Port

At 1,264 m, on the road to the col de Port between Massat and Aulus-les-Bains, the Étang de Lers occupies a site that is doubly singular, geological and legendary. It was here that lherzolite was first described, a rare magmatic rock that takes its name from the old spelling of the place, "Lherz" — the lake remains its world type locality for mineralogists. But the place also owes its renown to an Ariège legend: a prosperous village once stood on this site. During an autumn festival, a beggar appeared and asked for hospitality; the villagers, heedless, drove him away with contempt. Only Pascal, a shepherd kept apart from the community, took him in. The traveller, a heavenly envoy, then announced that a terrible night was coming and that they must flee without delay: the village would be swallowed up as punishment for its inhospitality. Pascal and his daughter Pascaline escaped, but she, having broken the prohibition against looking back, was turned to stone. A gigantic avalanche then buried the village, forming the present lake. Today a nordic ski and pastoral site, surrounded by summer pastures where horses and sheep graze, the Étang de Lers remains a favourite spot for walking and cross-country skiing in every season, in the heart of the Pyrénées ariégeoises regional nature park.

Getting there : On the road to the col de Port (D618), halfway between Massat and Aulus-les-Bains, in the Ariège.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound